There's a lot of traffic Weaver Lake Road, just south of Hemlock Lane. About 10,000 cars travel the road everyday and traffic engineers expect that number to double in the future.
"For a two-lane roadway, without left turn lanes, that's pretty busy and it was really at the capacity of the roadway," said Marc Culver, traffic engineer for the city of Maple Grove.
Hennepin County is widening Weaver Lake Road to four lanes with a left-turn lane at all the intersections. Some motorists can't wait until all the orange signs go away.
"Rush hour is the worst" said Ross Miller, a Maple Grove resident. "You have to pull out faster than you want, it's scary. And when it's busy it's really hard to see which way the traffic is coming from, making it hard to turn."
Riley Gohns lives right across the street from the road project and says the area is "chaos" right now. He's concerned about the safety of children in the area.
"I'm very concerned about them, there are a lot of parents who don't stay out and watch them. There's a lot of kids running around late at night. People need to be out here attending to their kids," said Gohns.
Shannon DeJonkers keeps a close eye on four grandchildren who often come play in her yard.
"They're not allowed to go past the middle tree behind you there," she said, referring to a spot only about 10 feet from the road.
City officials say they've got a plan to make this stretch of roadway safe for pedestrians by extending an underpass on the south side of Weaver Lake Road.
Motorists should anticipate some major delays this weekend, as crews work on Weaver Lake Road, just west of I-94. Roads will be down to one lane each direction, starting Friday at 8 p.m. and lasting until Sunday evening. The entire project should be complete by the end of fall.
Sonya Goins, reporting
news@twelve.tv
Tuesday, August 14, 2012